September 1, 2005

"You can remove your head from the window, Thals. I promise we're moving." Thalia Grace turned around for the split second it took to punch her little brother. The brat dodged easily and snickered at her snarl of frustration. "Why are you looking anyway, sis? Dad left before the train did and Mom didn't even make it off of the couch this morning."

"Mom's chances of being a good mother are about even with your chances of remembering to turn lights off when you leave a room." Thalia said flatly. Their mother had long been a point of contention in their family. Dad loved her (despite the fact that they had been divorced for longer than Jason had been alive), but everyone else hated her except Auntie Hestia.

"I know," Jason said quietly. The siblings shared a sad look before Thalia turned back to the window. By now they had, of course, left Kings Cross Station behind, but she kept looking, desperately hoping, trying to see– "Hey!"

"–is for horses," Thalia finished, a little annoyed at being drawn from her thoughts again. "Aside from that, what do you want?"

"You never answered my question!" Jason exclaimed, scowling at her.

Thalia sighed. "Luke."

"What?"

"I was looking for Luke."

"I should have known you were looking for your boyfriend!" Jason said, chortling.

"He's not my boyfriend!" He was, but that wasn't Jason's business.

"Right. And we all in this car believe that." The scepticism in his voice was evident, but Thalia ignored him and busied herself with digging around in her bag for the Galleons her stepmother had given her at Kings Cross.

"Jason!"

"Thalia!" he mimicked. She aimed a punch agan, and this time it landed. "Ow!"

"Payback."

"If he's not your boyfriend," his tone clearly relaying skepticism, "why were you looking for him?"

"Because he said he'd make sure Annabeth got to the platform this morning, and I wanted to know if he stuck around." That actually had been the reason.

When Thalia had run away at the age of nine, she'd met fellow runaway Luke. Three years later the two of them had practically raised seven-year-old Annabeth Chase for a few months. The authorities had caught up to them eventually and sent them all home. Luke to a missing father and a crazy mother, Thalia to a busy father and an unreliable mother and poor Annabeth to a mother who worried but didn't comment, a stepmother who commented but didn't worry, and a father who forgot to worry or comment. Ever since, both Thalia and Jason had treated Annabeth like a sister, and they and Luke had spent many a day in Thalia's father's ridiculously large manor.

Then Luke had graduated from Hogwarts. Now, Luke spent a lot of time fighting with the Wizengamot, trying to convince them to give him custody of Annabeth, and Thalia and Jason saw him half as much as they used to. Annabeth, now a second year Slytherin, fought alongside him, but the lords and ladies weren't listening - probably because Annabeth's mother was one of them.

Thalia, a seventh-year Gryffindor, had been with them every step of the way - emotionally and fiscally. Since she'd been forcibly sent back to her parents, she'd spent her time wrangling and raising Jason, who, at age eleven, was finally old enough for her to feel comfortable leaving him alone so she could sneak out and meet Luke.

And this year, Luke had promised he'd be there, both to say goodbye to Thalia and Annabeth, and to wish Jason a good seven years at Hogwarts. Thalia missed him, so seeing him had been fantastic, but she wished he'd stayed longer.

The new few hours were passed in relative silence, with one Grace making a comment here or there but no conversations. About three hours into the ride, a boy poked his head through.

"Do you guys have space for two more?" he asked. Thalia looked at him and gasped.

"Percy!"

He looked at her weirdly. "Yeeees?"

"Percy, it's me, Thalia!"

Percy blinked vacantly for a second, then realization cleared his eyes. "Sweet Circe, Thalia!"

Thalia laughed. "Get over here, cuz!" She hugged him tightly and ruffled his hair. "It hasn't changed at all!" she chortled as he yelped in protest.

Jason coughed. "Uh, Thals? 'Cuz'?"

Thalia looked at him. "You don't remember Percy? The two of you instigated a ridiculous number of pillow fights when you were little. He's our cousin."

Percy waved in his friend and sat opposite the Graces. "It's okay if you don't, man. I barely remember you two, either. Oh, this is my best friend, Grover Underwood. We're both in Hufflepuff."

"Second year, right?" Thalia said. "Or am I misremembering your age?"

"Second year," Percy confirmed.

"Do you know Annabeth Chase?"

Percy's friend Grover bleated a laugh. "Does he? Half of the time, those two are best friends. The other half, they can't agree on anything. It's ridiculous."

"No, it isn't," Percy argued. "We just have different ideas sometimes."

"Sometimes" Grover muttered. "Sometimes."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know Annabeth. She's cool."

"Yeah, she is," Jason agreed. "So, what's Hufflepuff like beyond the rumors?"

Percy smiled. "It's amazing," he told him. "I love it there."

"Me too," Grover said. "Hard work always pays off. And everyone is friendly."

Percy looked thoughtful. "Jason, you're an incoming first year, right?"

"Yeah."

"I have a neighbor named Frank. He's also a first year. I'd 've sat with him, but his dad hates me. Anyway, I think you two would get along. He's half Chinese and really tall; you can't miss him."

"Oh… kay?"

Percy grinned at him. "You don't have to, man. It's just a thought."

"Thanks. For, uh, the suggestion."

"No sweat dude."

With that, awkward statements flowed into easy conversation and Thalia felt another missing piece slide into place.

Hey guys! Guess who survived finals? ME! Hooray! And I'm not going on vacation until February, so I have a lot of time to write this winter!

Okay, this is a story that I promised last year around this time, and I finally got around to writing it in July. Flash forward many months, my mom has been kind enough to type of the twenty-six notebook pages I filled writing the first nine-ish chapters (we should all be thanking her, because if it wasn't for her this story might not have been posted until NEXT winter.

I put a poll on my profile many months ago, and the two people who participated told me that they wanted to see Nico and Thalia, so that's who the first two chapters are about. When you are reading, be sure to check the year at the top of each chapter, or else you are going to be very confused. I will post one chapter a week until I run out of inspiration (but that won't happen until February or so). I'll try to update on Saturdays, but no promises.

You guys are awesome! See you on Saturday!

-swanglade37